472 The Loom of Language
European languages, but Jespersen is at pains to give each a clear-cut
meaning There are many whimsicalities in the choice of them A
special suffix denotes action, another indicates the result of an action,
and a third is for use when the product of the action is specially meant) as
distinct from the way in which it is done (Got it^) In the list of prefixes
we meet an old acquaintance, the Esperanto bo- This indicates relation
by mamage, eg bopatro (father-in-law), bomatra (mother-in-law),
bqfiha (daughter-in-law). How long the mother-in-law will continue to
be a menace to monogamy, or how long monogamy will continue to be
the prevailing mores of civilized communities we cannot say Mean-
while it is just as easy to make a joke about the analytical English or
Chinese equivalent of Jespersen's bomatra
In building up his vocabulary Jespersen aimed at choosing the most
international words Since there are many things and notions for which
there are no fully fledged international (i e European) terms Jespersen
embraces the eclecticism of his predecessors The result is a mongrel
pup The following story illustrates its hybrid character
Da G Bernard Shaw
Un aimko de me kel had studia spesialim okulali kirurgia, exannnad in
un vespre men vidpovo e mformad me ke lum esed totun non-mteressant
a lo, pro ke lum esed "normal" Me naturim kredad ke turn sigmfikad
ke lum esed simil a omm altren, ma lo rcfusad ti interpietatione kom
paradoxal, e hastosim exphcad a me ke me esed optikalim exeptional e
tre fortunosi persone, pro ke "normah" vido donad h povo tu vida koses
akuratun e ke nor dek pro sent del popule posesed to povo, konter ke h
restanti nmanti pro sent esed non-normal Me mstantim deskovrad h
explikatione de men non-sukseso kom roman-autore Men mental okule
kom men korporal okule esed "normal", lum vidad koses altriman kam
h okules de altn homes3 e vidad les plu bomm
(Traduktet kun permisione de autore )
THE ANGLO-AMERICAN REACTION
With one exception, G J Henderson, who published two proposals,
Lingua in 1888 and Latmesce a few years later, none of the promoters of
constructed languages during the nineteenth century were American or
British With few exceptions, no continental linguists of the nineteenth
century, and none of the leaders of the world-auxiliary movement,
recognized the fact that one existing language, that of the largest
civilized speech community., is free from several defects common to all
outstanding projects for an artificial medium, before the publication of
Peano's Interhngua.